In the past, as blowing insulation is produced, most particularly fiberglass insulation, steps are taken to ascertain the coverage for a known quantity of insulation. The coverage consists of determining the volume that is occupied by a fixed amount, for example fifty pounds of fiberglass insulation.
In ascertaining such coverage, at each work shift in the production of insulation, a given amount of fiberglass insulation is blown between a pair of boards that are spaced apart and vertically disposed to simulate the attic space of a house between adjacent rafters. The insulation is thus blown into a volume that is fixed in lateral dimension and fixed in horizontal or longitudinal direction. The operator then determines the average height of the insulation between such boards, over the longitudinal length, averaging the high and low points to come up with an average vertical number which, together with the known width and length, can determine the volume that the known fifty pounds of fiberglass insulation will occupy. If adjustments are needed to increase the volume of a given amount of insulation, such can be done by adjusting the cutting, the treatment, or other mechanical features of the insulation. In the alternative, if the volume per fifty pound amount of insulation is too large, the insulation particle size can be reduced accordingly to effect a reduction in volume per weight.
The above-described system can result in considerable variation in correlating the volume of insulation with the weight of insulation, because the entire inspection is predicated upon averaging a visual estimate done by an individual. Because individuals will vary from shift-to-shift, the volume per weight of insulation delivered to a customer can sometimes have undesirable variation.